What was so funny?

The heart-breaking story of the day is that of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers student (left) who committed suicide after his roommate, Dharun Ravi (middle) used a webcam to stream his sexual encounter live on the internet.

Some hypothetical questions:

1. Would the roommate have walked with a hand-held video camera and photographed Mr. Clementi having sex?
2. If Mr. Clementi had been having sex with a woman, would it have seemed funny enough to stream over the internet?

What kind of a kid would do this? How about a kid who grows up

• not realizing the difference between private and public?
• believing that only physical presence leads to agency i.e. that if you were not physically present, then you have no responsibility
• believing that technical wizardy is praiseworthy regardless of consequences?
• thinking that homosexuals are the "other" i.e. not quite people and fit to be made fun of?

How much of this mindset is intrinsic to being 18-years old and immature? How much to being of his generation, a generation that grew up with social media? How much to being Indian American, one of the most homophobic groups in America?